38 - The Crown I Will Steal from You
38
She had wandered the continent and suffered all kinds of hardships during her expeditionary life.
There were times when she had to procure food for the group in the middle of nowhere.
“Princess, this is not for eating. It’s a poisonous plant called Hallus.”
“Why? It smells nice.”
“It slowly drives you mad. It has no taste, so it silently causes madness, and is also called the silent killer. Even smelling it is fatal, so don’t get close.”
“Fine, I didn’t want to drink it anyway.”
Medeia looked bored, as if she wasn’t feeling anything.
“Your Highness.”
At that moment, Neril opened the door and bowed.
“Welcome.”
“Woah……”
A small figure peeked out from behind her. Curious black eyes sparkled.
“Oh! Mommy!”
A clear child’s voice echoed through the quiet palace.
The round head, which had been looking around, moved as quickly as a squirrel when it found the figure it was looking for.
The child ran straight to the Maid, who was kneeling, and hugged her neck.
“Je, Jeremy……. You, why, why are you here…….”
Ciseo’s Maid seemed to be still in a daze. She couldn’t come to her senses.
“Mommy said she’d call me, to show me around the palace. Pii said I absolutely couldn’t, but…….”
The child pouted, but soon her eyes sparkled.
“Don’t worry, Mommy. A pretty sister here said she’d keep it a secret. Grandma doesn’t know Jeremy came here either! We promised to be quiet!”
The child met Neril’s eyes as if asking if that was right. Neril nodded.
“It’s super shiny here! There’s lots of yummy stuff too. And it smells good! But where’s the Princess? Does she really live here? Can I see her? Does she really have big horns like this on her head? Have you seen them, Mommy?”
As soon as she met her mother, the questions she had been holding back burst out like a flood.
The Maid was flustered, but then suddenly stiffened as if she had realized something. Then, with fearful eyes, she turned her head towards Medeia.
Medeia got up and approached the child.
“Yes. I really live here.”
The child, who was being held in the Maid’s arms, looked at Medeia and widened her eyes.
“Wow, are you the Princess?”
“Yes.”
“The, the horns?”
Medeia lowered her head to match the child’s eye level.
“How about it, can you see them?”
“I can’t see them. I can’t see them at all. You’re just sparkling like the moon.”
The child reached out her chubby hand as if possessed and grabbed a handful of Medeia’s hair that was falling down.
Neril reflexively tried to step forward, but Medeia raised her hand to stop her.
“It’s okay.”
Medeia waited until all of her hair had slipped through the wriggling fingers.
“Did you say your name is Jeremy?”
“Yes!”
“Aren’t you thirsty? Would you like some tea?”
It was then that the Maid’s bewildered eyes widened in shock.
“Yes! I’m thirsty.”
The tea was offered to the child. It was the very tea that the Maid had brewed a little while ago and refused to drink.
“Can I drink it?”
“Of course.”
Medeia answered kindly.
“There’s plenty more.”
It was when the child, with expectant eyes, took the teacup and brought it close to her lips.
“No!”
The Maid roughly knocked the teacup away.
Clang. The cup flew to the wall and shattered roughly.
“Plea, please forgive me.”
The Maid knelt down, hugging the child and hiding her in her arms.
The Maid bowed her head.
“I was wrong, I’ll tell you everything.”
“Uh, Mommyyyyy!”
A sudden loud noise. A tremor felt in her arms.
The child finally burst into tears at her mother’s unusual atmosphere.
The Maid was even more terrified and tried to hug the child tighter to block the crying.
“Jeremy.”
Medeia quietly called the child’s name. But the Maid knew that it was directed at her, not the child.
“……Yo, Your Highness…….”
The eyes of the Princess looking at her were chillingly cold. A chilling chill ran down the Maid’s back.
‘What, what have I done……?’
She could no longer hide or pretend.
Unknowingly, the arms that had been holding the child slowly loosened.
“Waaaaah! Mommy, you’re weird!”
The child burst into tears, unaware of her mother’s fear. And she ran to Medeia, who had called her name a little while ago, and hugged her.
“Jeremy! No……!”
The Maid felt like her heart was falling. She couldn’t take the child away from the Princess, so her hands and feet trembled.
“Don’t cry.”
Medeia gently wiped away the child’s tears. It was when the child stopped sobbing, touched by the warm temperature on her cheeks.
She took the small, fern-like hand in her own.
“……It’s so small. And weak.”
“Your Highness, please…….”
A moan like a plea burst from the Maid. Soon, it was barely swallowed again by Medeia’s cold gaze.
“I have something to talk about with your mother, so will you wait until we’re done?”
“Hic. Hng……. Then can I eat that while I wait?”
The child glanced at the cookies on the snack plate with tearful eyes.
Medeia smiled and handed the child the snack plate. The child’s mouth opened in exclamation.
“Can I look around too, hic?”
“Anywhere.”
Medeia gestured to another Maid, who took the child away.
“Bye, Mommy~”
Waving her chubby hand, the child disappeared cheerfully as if she had never cried.
Unaware that her mother’s face was filled with despair, distracted by the cookies.
The Maid walked on her knees and clung to the hem of Medeia’s dress.
“Your Highness, I, I’ll tell you everything. It’s Duke Claudio. He gave Ciseo a tea containing Hallus and told her to give it to him. He, he threatened to kill me if I refused. I wanted to live, I was scared, I was afraid…….”
“Since when?”
“He first contacted me three years ago. But I kept refusing…….”
Three years. A hollow laugh escaped her.
They had already been moving long before Medeia realized it.
“I have that child and a sick old mother. My father passed away early, so I’m the only one who can take care of my mother. If I’m not here……. The threats were so scary, I was so afraid…… Hic, hng, hic.”
“Enough, how long has Ciseo been drinking that tea?”
“It’s been four months since I first served the tea to, to His Excellency…….”
Four months.
It hasn’t been half a year, so it’s too early to be addicted.
If he stops taking the medicine and takes care of his body, he should be able to recover without any problems. If anything, it’s fortunate.
“That’s all I know, I’ll resign as soon as I get back and accept whatever punishment you give me. So please, Your Highness, have mercy on my child…….”
A heartbreaking cry continued. The Maid’s face was soaked with tears.
“I will not decide your fate. Go to Ciseo and tell him yourself.”
The Maid raised her head. She saw a glimmer of hope in her tearful eyes.
Does she think she can hide it from Ciseo, or does she think there’s room for her to find a way to save herself in the middle?
“My child will be with me until then. Unlike my uncle, I will not threaten you with your life. As you can already see.”
Medeia raised the corner of her lips.
“Because you won’t be the one dying.”
It was a ruthlessness that didn’t suit her youthful face.
“Plea, please save me. That child doesn’t know anything…….”
“Oh, that will depend on you.”
She patted the Maid’s shoulder.
“I will make your son a page in my palace. He will be educated by the courtiers and grow up close to the nobility.”
She will keep him by her side and cherish him.
So that he can become a leash that can strangle her neck if the Maid ever betrays her.
The Maid in front of her also realized the meaning.
“……I, I will. Let my body, my thoughts, everything be as Your Highness wishes.”
The Maid let out a deep groan and bowed her head as if collapsing.
\ \ *
Late at night, Medeia’s bedroom door finally opened.
“Mommy-!”
The Maid, who grabbed the hand of the child who was running up energetically, walked out with heavy steps.
Mariu closed her mouth with fearful eyes and trembled silently.
Neril gestured for her to leave, and then closed the door.
“…….”
Medeia was sitting and looking out the window, which was filled with darkness.
Neril walked up as usual and stood behind her.
“I showed you an ugly sight.”
Holding the life of an innocent child hostage and threatening her mother. It must have been uncomfortable for Neril, who had a high sense of chivalry.
She even made Neril bring the child.
Medeia did not deny it. There was no other excuse to attach to her pathetic actions.
“If it’s hard to watch, you can leave. Because I won’t stop.”
To punish the beasts, she too had to become a beast. When the revenge is all over, her hands will be stained with blood and filth.
But that’s okay. That’s what she wants.
“Your Highness.”
Neril knelt down on one knee.
“I swore. That I would uphold anything.”
“……Thank you.”
The last words were almost as small as a whisper.
Late at night, a cuckoo, unaware of the time, cried sadly.
